Games

Best Open-World Series With Overarching Stories That Last Multiple Games

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2 weeks ago

November 8, 2024

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Game developers typically prefer making games with no barriers to entry, making their games easy to pick up for new players who haven’t had a chance to play their previous works. Doing so allows them to appeal to as wide an audience as possible on every new game’s release. The easiest way to achieve this is by making standalone games where the story of one game has no bearing on the other. The biggest example of this approach is the Grand Theft Auto series, where all games are set in the same universe but can be enjoyed as individual titles because there is no interconnectedness.

12 Best Open-World Games Made By Indie Developers

Table of Contents

Open-world games are often associated with triple-A blockbusters, but these indie games prove that the genre isn’t impenetrable to indie developers.

Players looking for an open-world series where multiple games connect with one another will not find much, as most developers tend to follow in Rockstar’s footsteps because it’s the safest approach. Fortunately, established franchises spanning multiple games with an overarching storyline are rare, but they do exist. Here are the top contenders.

8 Gothic Series

Gothic 1, 2, And 3

	Gothic	Gothic 2	Gothic 3
Franchise	Gothic	Gothic	Gothic
System	Nintendo, PC	PC	PC
Platform(s)	Switch, PC	PC	PC
Released	2001-11-23	2003-10-28	2006-11-20
Developer(s)	Piranha Bytes	Piranha Bytes	Piranha Bytes
Genre(s)	RPG	Action RPG	Action RPG

The Gothic series is a cult-classic open-world role-playing series set in a medieval fantasy world amidst a war between humans and the Orcs. The player character finds himself imprisoned in a mining colony and forced to mine for ores in order to fund the human war effort by a tyrannical king. Most of the story takes place inside this mining colony and the events that unfold.

Gothic 2 continues directly after the events of the first game and explores the world outside the mining colony and allows the player to explore the broader world outside. Despite the dated graphics and controls, Gothic 1 & 2 are considered classics for a reason. The power curve is satisfying, the leveling-up system is rewarding, and the role-playing is stellar. Gothic 3 is a departure from the previous two games, opting from a more vibrant tone and upbeat fantasy setting.

Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion, Skyrim, & Online

	The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind	The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion	The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Franchise	The Elder Scrolls	The Elder Scrolls	The Elder Scrolls
System	Xbox, PC	Xbox, PC, PlayStation	Nintendo, Xbox, PC, PlayStation
Platform(s)	Xbox (Original), PC	PS3, Xbox 360, PC	PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 3
Released	2002-05-01	2006-03-20	2011-11-11
Developer(s)	Bethesda Game Studios	Bethesda	Bethesda Game Studios
Genre(s)	RPG	RPG	Action, RPG, Adventure

The Elder Scrolls is considered one of the most popular RPG series of all time, with five full-length single-player open-world games, multiple smaller entries, and even a full-fledged MMO to its name. The games all take place in the fictional setting of Tamriel, a fantasy world of dragons and daedra with a rich lore that spans across four eras.

Each game in the series can be played as a standalone title with a self-contained story that has a beginning, middle, and end. But the story is always being told in the context of Tamriel, through the lens of the larger conflict between the Thalmor, the Empire, and the various smaller factions. The Aedra and the Daedra are ever-present threats in every game, influencing the world in different ways each time, sometimes benevolent, sometimes malevolent, but always unpredictable.

6 Marvel’s Spider-Man Series

Marvel’s Spider-Man 1, 2, & Miles Morales

	Marvel’s Spider-Man	Marvel’s Spider-Man 2	Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Franchise	Marvel’s Spider-Man	Spider-Man	Spider-Man
System	PC, PlayStation	PC, PlayStation	PC, PlayStation
Platform(s)	PS5, PS4, PC	PlayStation 5, PC	PS5, PS4
Released	2018-09-07	2023-10-20	2020-11-12
Developer(s)	Insomniac Games	Insomniac Games	Insomniac Games
Genre(s)	Open-World, Action, Adventure	Action-Adventure, Open-World	Action, Adventure

Sony kicked off 2018 with Marvel’s Spider-Man, making a huge splash in the gaming sphere and cementing Insomniac Games as a titan in the industry. The story follows a mature Peter Parker in a gorgeously realized New York City and his adventures as he tries to save the inhabitants from threats big and small.

Genshin Impact, Red Dead Redemption 2, Cyberpunk 2077

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After the huge success of the original, Insomniac released the spin-off Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales in 2020 and a full-length sequel, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 in 2023, to critical acclaim. Marvel’s Spider-Man and its sequels all take place in the Insomniac-created universe called Earth-1048, taking advantage of the multiverse setting inherent to the Marvel universe.

5 Batman: Arkham Series

Arkham Origins, Arkham Asylum & Arkham City

	Batman: Arkham Asylum	Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition	Batman: Arkham Origins
System	Xbox, PC, PlayStation	Nintendo	Nintendo, Xbox, PC, PlayStation
Platform(s)	PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, PC, macOS, Xbox One	Nintendo Wii U	Nintendo Wii U, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3
Released	2009-08-25	2012-11-18	2013-10-25
Developer(s)	Rocksteady Studios	WB Games Montreal	WB Games Montreal
Genre(s)	Action, Adventure	Action-Adventure, Open-World	Action, Adventure

Released in 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum was the first game in the series following the story of Batman as he contends with the escaped prisoners from Asylum, chief among them The Joker. Batman: Arkham City continues 18 months after the events of Arkham Asylum and holds the crown as the definitive Batman game, gaining critical acclaim and setting the standard for modern open-world games going forward.

Batman: Arkham Origins occurs before the events of Arkham Asylum, where players follow a young Bruce Wayne as he is still learning the ropes on how to take up the mantle of the hero Gotham needs. All Arkham games feature a mix of stealth mechanics, brawler-style reactive combat, and the use of gadgets to diversify the gameplay loop.

4 Assassin’s Creed Series

AC 1, 2, 3, 4, Brotherhood, Revelations, Black Flag, & Many More

When it comes to interconnected stories in a franchise across multiple games, Assassin’s Creed has everyone beat. The premise of the series is a device called the Animus, developed by the evil megacorp Abstergo, which allows people to relive past events as experienced by their ancestors. While Ubisoft has pulled back on the ‘Present Day’ elements in the most recent AC games, the general premise is still there.

Additionally, in the background of every Assassin’s Creed game is the eternal conflict between the Assassins and the Templars throughout the ages. The Assassin’s Creed series has always followed an open-world formula that only expanded over the years. The series may have moved away from the stealth-first approach from the original title in favor of becoming more of an RPG. Vast, open, dense maps are at the core of the formula, which is why players players keep coming back for more.

3 Horizon Series

Horizon Zero Dawn & Forbidden West

	Horizon: Zero Dawn	Horizon Forbidden West
System	PC, PlayStation	PC, PlayStation
Platform(s)	PS4, PC	PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC
Released	2017-02-28	2022-02-18
Developer(s)	Guerrilla Games	Guerrilla Games
Genre(s)	Action, RPG	Action, RPG

Horizon Zero Dawn and Forbidden West follow Aloy as she journeys across a vibrant, lush post-apocalyptic Earth where the original humans have been all but wiped out, and a new civilization of the remnants is in their tribal era.

8 Best Open-World Games That Are Not Part Of A Franchise

These standalone open-world titles don’t have sequels, but offer unique settings and familiar formulas for fans of the genre.

Forbidden West is the direct sequel to Zero Dawn, continuing the story almost immediately after the events of the last game, taking Aloy to the far west in Banuk territory. The Horizon series has quickly become one of Sony’s biggest success stories and a PlayStation mascot, though both games can now also be played on PC.

2 Red Dead Redemption Series

Red Dead Redemption 1 & 2

	Red Dead Redemption	Red Dead Redemption 2
Franchise	Red Dead Redemption	Red Dead Redemption
System	Nintendo, Xbox, PlayStation	Google, Xbox, PC, PlayStation
Platform(s)	Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PC, PlayStation 3	PS4, PC, Stadia, Xbox One
Released	2010-05-18	2018-10-26
Developer(s)	Rockstar San Diego	Rockstar Games
Genre(s)	Open-World, Adventure	Action, Adventure

Red Dead Redemption is a western open-world RPG series set in the Wild West when outlaws were commonplace, and trains were just starting to catch on. RDR1 follows John Marston of the Van der Linde gang, an outlaw involved in almost every crime the gang was a part of. Players are taken along the ride for John’s journey after he leaves the gang and sets out on his own to make his way in the world.

RDR2’s protagonist is Arthur Morgan, another member of Dutch’s gang and a friend of John’s. This story is set in the time when John was still a part of the gang. Arthur is a flawed character with a heart of gold, more mature than John but more cautious as well. Both games are modern-day classics and in contention for the best open-world games of all time.

1 The Legend Of Zelda Series

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild & Tears Of The Kingdom

	The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild	The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Franchise	The Legend of Zelda	The Legend of Zelda
System	Nintendo	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Nintendo Wii U, Switch	Nintendo Switch
Released	2017-03-03	2023-05-12
Developer(s)	Nintendo EPD	Nintendo
Genre(s)	Action, Adventure	Adventure

After Mario, The Legend of Zelda is Nintendo’s biggest first-party franchise and an age-old classic that has transitioned gracefully in the modern gaming sphere. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild was the series’ first foray into the open-world genre, and it knocked it out of the park. A completely different Ghibli-inspired art style, an absolutely huge map to explore, and a reimagining of the familiar Hyrule.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom takes what BotW brought to the table and dials it up to eleven, directly doubling the size of the map with The Depths, as well as various new Sky Islands to explore. Zelda lore is famously complex, and the timeline is incredibly convoluted, but what’s never in question is that it’s all connected; it’s up to the players to figure out how.